Art Prize 2011

Art = Community
Art is the focus of the competition, but the main event is community. Artists take over the city, visitors explore and new relationships form. Communities open to new ideas organically.

Sabrina Abbot

About the work
Title: La Fleur de Florence
Art form: 2-D
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Year created: 2010
Description of work: This iris, like all my pieces, was an object that was discarded. Instead of seeing a wilted flower I saw an iris that was still full of life and beauty and decided to try to capture the energy that remained in that one flower. In my work I attempt to remove objects from a stereotypical viewpoint and re-create, or recycle, the object focusing on it's inherent value and beauty. I call this technique "Perceptionism" and my work "Perceptionist Art".
Height:	4 feet
Width:	7 feet
Depth:	1 feet

Art form: 2-D

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Year created: 2010

Description of work: This iris, like all my pieces, was an object that was discarded. Instead of seeing a wilted flower I saw an iris that was still full of life and beauty and decided to try to capture the energy that remained in that one flower. In my work I attempt to remove objects from a stereotypical viewpoint and re-create, or recycle, the object focusing on it's inherent value and beauty. I call this technique "Perceptionism" and my work "Perceptionist Art".

Height:

4 feet

Width:

7 feet

Depth:

1 feet

Ron Surgeson

About the work
Title: Le Troupeau de Lunes

Art form: 3-D

Medium: Suspended Ultralight Kite Array

Year created: 2011

Description of work: "Le Troupeau de Lunes" (The Flock of Lunes) is a colossal, ultralight kite array suspended in free space. It was conceived expressly for the JW Marriott Grand Rapids to function in organic relationship to the hotel's grand tower. It incorporates the building's "lune" geometry and draws power from one of the JW's most dramatic interior spaces - the elevator tower atrium. The piece is a collaboration of Ron Surgeson, a GR resident, and Lee Harrisberger of Tampa, Florida - a retired professor of Mechanical Engineering Design whose life-long fascination with woodworking & creative design has resulted in over 1300 works and eight one-man shows. The project's genesis was a 2008 visit to the JW by Dr. Harrisberger which resulted in a variety of new works based on the lune form - most notably a series of 3D wall sculptures. After months of location work by Mr. Surgeson in GR, a concept of major proportions took shape: Le Troupeau de Lunes. This work is dedicated to Ruth Harrisberger, 1924-2011

Height:	200 feet
Width:	25 feet
Depth:	20 feet

All images captured with Lumix GF-1

2011 Photo Pro - Jeffrey P. Hopp